“Loss Incentive” Motivates Employees to Take More Steps

Sources: The New York Times, Forbes, TIME, Philadelphia Inquirer, Reuters, Fortune, Medpage Today, Newswise, STAT, ACSH, LDI Blog, Penn Medicine, February 16, 2016; Penn Today March 24, 2016 A study lead by Mitesh Patel, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, gave 281 overweight and obese participants a goal of 7,000 steps per day for 13 weeks. Participants were randomized to one of three incentive groups with daily feedback, a gain incentive ($1.40 for each day goal was met); lottery incentive (daily eligibility if goal was achieved); or loss incentive ($42 allocated monthly upfront and $1.40 removed each day goal was not achieved) or a control group with daily feedback. They found that financial incentives framed as a loss were most effective for achieving physical activity goals.